Wireless means for controlling aeroplanes.



CHARLIE L. VANDEBBUBG, F HUTCHINSON, KANSAS, ASSIGNQE TO' EEO-7E.

VANDEBBUBG, 0F HUTCSON, SAS.

LESS MEANS FOR CONTROLLING AEBOPL ANES.

. Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented ma as, rare.-

Application filed September 9 1911. $erial Ho. 648,514.

less Means for Controlling Aeroplanes, of

which the tollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in wireless means for controlling aeroplanes, and it consists in the combinations, constructions, and arrangements herein described and claimed.

An object of my invention is to provide asimple device by means of which the movements of an aeroplane may be so controlled that it will respond directly to the will of the operator, thereby avoiding the necessity of carrying a passenger to manipulate it.

A further object of my invention is to provide means for effecting further operations connected with aeroplanes, such as the dropping of bombs or torpedoes.

A further object of my invention is to provide means for selectively operating any of a number of levers for accomplishing the above named results.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification, and the novel features of the invention will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

' ters indicate like parts in the several views and in which- Figure 1 is a view of the wireless receiving circuits, Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the selective mechanism, Fig. 3 is a section along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is a section along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fig. 2.

This controlling device is adapted to be used with any sultable sending device, and I have therefore not shown the sending device. The circuits of the receiving device form no part of the present invention, except in so far as they cooperate with the main solenoid which effects the operation of the selective mechanism. The receiving circuits will therefore be referred to briefly.

Referring-now to Fig. 1, A denotes an aerial, B a tuning coil, C a coherer, D a decoherer, E a battery, F a relay, and E a battery on the circuit of another relay G. The operation of this circuit is the same as the ordinary circuit. The impulses received by the aerial A are passed through the tunin coil B, and these impulses are sent to the co erer C. The battery E and the relay F form part of a local circuit, and the closmg of the contacts (Z, d, and d of the relay F causes current to flow from the battery E through the decoherer. A'branch circuit from the battery E actuates the relay G. The contacts g, g" of the latter relay connects the solenoid S with the lead wires 1 and 2 of 110 volt circuit. It will be apparent that every time an impulse is received by the aerial A, the solenoid will be actuated. The receiving system just described is designed to operate one portion of the selective mechanism hereinafter described. A similar receiving system is also shown in Fig. 1, the parts A, B, C", D", E", G" and E being duplicates of the receiving set just described, the only difierenoe being that the two sets are diiferently tuned so as to make use of different impulses. The selective mechanism is best shown in Fig. 2. In this figure the solenoid S 15 shown as being provided with a core 8 to which is attached a pawl 3 for operating a ratchet wheel 4. The latter is mounted on a shaft 5 bearing a pinion 6, which meshes with a smaller pinion 7. The shaft 5 is supported in brackets 5 on a base 8 upon which is mounted a circular table T arranged to turn on its center and being provided with teeth t on its under side near the edge of the plate. These teeth are arranged to mesh with the gear 7 Upon the upper edge oi the table T is mounted an elect-romagnet M.

Disposed adjacenttothe circular table T is an arc-shaped plate P, bearing a series of uprights like those shown at 9 in Fig. 3. Each of these uprights bears at its top a p voted lever such as that shown at 10. One

end of this lever is provided with an armature 11, while to the opposite end is attached anoperating cord or arm 12, which leads to the particular piece of mechanisngto} be controlled. The lever 10 is normally "held in a horizontal position by means of a spring 13, the lever resting against a stop 14. Between the upright'9 and the armature 11 is suspended a spring arm 15. This is provided with a cam lug 16 like that shown in arranged to engage an arm 17 on the upright, 9. The levers '10, as stated above, are designed to control the, movements of the respective mechanisms, such as rudders, ailerons, wings, etc. Thus it willjbe seen that the end lever in Fig. 2 will'be operated if the machine is to 0 up, and alternate levers may be brought into play for guiding the machine to the right, left, down, etc.,

as the, case may be. The levers adjacent to these levers 10 are like that shown at 18 in Fig. 5. They are provided .with armatures 19 arranged to be actuated by the,

magnet M and with a spring 20, and a stop 21, similar to the levers 10. The end of the lever 18 however, opposite the armature 19, is

to engage a pivoted semi-circular mem er The ends of. this member 23 are journaled in bearings 24 on the base 8,'so

that when any of the levers 18 is actuated the circular member 23, which in this case I have shown as a wire, is lifted.

Pivotally secured to the wire 23 is a link 25, which connects with a'bell crank lever 26, which is pivoted at 27, and whose short arm is provided with a pin 28 arranged to enter a slotted arm 29, which is' pivotally connected at 30 to the pawl 3.

The means for locking the member23 in its upper position gonsists of a lever 31, which is pivotally mounted at 32 on the base 8, the lower end of the lever being under the tension of a spring 33. It will be apparent that when the member 23 clears the end of the lever 31, the latterlwill be brought underneath' the member 23 in the position shown in Fig. 5, thereby locking the member 23 in its upper position. In order to unlock the pivoted member 23, I provide a cord 34 which passes over a pulley 35 secured to the end portion of the base 8, thence forwardly and upwardly through the base, being attached to a lever 36. A weight W is susended by a cord 'w which passes over a puli eyv 37, and thence around the edge of the rotary table T.

closing o f the key on the sender 1(not shown) From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, the operationthereof me be readily understood. The sen ing device, asexplained before,

' pl ypen suitable form"; The impulses coming-into theiaerial- A are. relayed 1n the manner-already described, and for"-each the solenoid S is actuated. It mustbe understood that the tuning coil B tuned tore'ceive thesetimpulses. When the 'sole-' noid draws in its'cores the pawl turns the ratchet wheel 4 in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3. The .play of this pawl is about half an inch. In the drawings 1 have indicated the ratchet wheel as having small teeth, and the pawl will ride over a rovided with a downwardly extending. r 22, having a hook at its bottom arran ed wardly, and-the 'semi The turning of theiratchet wheel will turn the table T- in the direction indicated by the number ofteeth in its bacliward movement.

arrow in 2-. The normal position of the magnet is that indicated by'dotted-lines in Fig. 2. Let us suppose that itis desired to :turn the aeroplane to the right. The cord which operates the proper lever-for turning the aeroplane tothdfight is attached to the fifth lever,1and therefore theo erator sends five impulses..- The core 8 of noid will be reciprocated' five'times, and the table will be turned so as to bring the magnet M underneath the lever 10 in the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The'apparatus is locked by the spring pressed dog 38. The operator now sends an'inipulse from another sending devicefand these'impulses are-received by the aerial A, the tuning coil -13 being adjusted to receive the impulses, and the magnet M (see Fig. '1) is actuated in precisely the same manner that the solenoid was actuated by the companion receiving circuit. The lever l0 is pulled down into .the dotted line position shown in Fig. 3, and in its-movement depresses the spring arm 15 whose cam lug 16 engagesunderneath the-arm 17 on the upright '9, as shown in Fig. 4, thereby locking the lever in .posi-, tion. Disposed on the edgeof the table T adjacent the magnet M is a pin 40, which clears the lower-ends'of the arms 15 exceptwhen one of;these is in its locked position. This forms part; of the releasing mechanism. When it is'fdesired to release the device so as to shift the magnet underneath raised by means io the rod 22, the locking lever 31 s ringing 23 to lock it in position. -The;u"ward movement of the semicircular inem r 23 causes the disengagement of :the'. avid 3 through the medium 'pfthelink'25, ll crank lever i 26, and the arm "Italsomauses'the dis engagement of the:dog'38f" The ratchet is {has free and "the weightKW immediately brings the table back toltsori final position, as shown in dotted inFlg'. 2. As the table swingsaround'fthelug 41 (see Fig. 2) engages the lever, 36 (see Fig. 3),"thereby pulling the flloci dng'lever :31 from underneath the semifircul'ar' member'23, the latter being immediately, p lled downwardly by the spring 52 (see Fig. 5). The downe sole underneath the member apparatus is now in its normal position ready to be operated again. Itwill be understood that this releasing movement is very quick, and in fact after a single impulse has been sent to bring the magnet M under any one of these release levers 18, and an actuating impulse has been sent to actuate the release lever, one may immediately operate the apparatus to eflect the selection and operation of another lever.

From the foregoing description of the device, itwill be seen that the apparatus will select and operate a lever corresponding to a particular part of the aeroplane to be moved, and that the part will be immediately locked in position until the releasing impulse is sent. I have shown the levers 10 and 18 as being spaced apart a considerable distance, but this is for the purpose of illustration only and as a matter of fact they may be arranged closer.

I am aware that various modifications might be made of this device, especially as to sizes of parts, but I reserve the right to all such modifications as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In wireless means for controlling aeroplanes, a series of actuating levers, locking means for each of said levers, a magnet arranged to be brought into operative relation with each of said actuating levers, means for locking the magnet in its shifted position, a series of releasing levers, said release levers alternating with said actuating levers and being arranged to be operated by said magnet, the operation of any of said releasing levers serving to release the locking mechanism of said magnet.

2. In wireless means for controlling aeroplanes, a solenoid, a pivoted table, means operated by said solenoid for turning said table and for locking it in itsturned position, a magnet carried by said table, a series of actuating levers disposed adjacent said table and arranged to be operated by said magnet, and a series of release levers alternating with said actuating levers and arranged to be operated by said magnet, the movement of said releasing levers serving to release the locking mechanism of saidr table, and means for automatically rotating the table into its normal position.

3. In wireless means for controlling aeroplanes, a pivoted table provided with teeth on its under side, a solenoid, a ratchet, a

pawl connected with the core of said solenoid and arranged to engage said ratchet, means for preventing areverse movement ot sald ratchet, gears operated by said ratchet and arranged to mesh with the teeth on the table for turning the latter, a magnetcarried by the table, a series of actuating levers, an alternate series of releasing levers, a common member operated by each of said releasing levers, and connections between said common member and said pawl for raising the latter from said ratchet.

4. In wireless means for controlling aeroplanes, a rotary table, a magnetcarried thereby, a series of actuating levers, means for moving said magnet into operative relation with each of said actuating levers, means for locking each of said actuating levers, and means carried by the table and arranged to engage said locking means for releasing said actuating lever.

5. In wireless means for controlling aeroplanes, a pivoted table, a magnet carried thereby, means for turning said table, means for operating the magnet, a series of actuating levers, a series of releasing levers alternating with said actuating levers, a common member arranged to be operated by each of said releasing levers, means for locking said common member in its operative position, and means carried by said table for releasing said locking means.

6. In wireless means for controlling aeroplanes, a pivoted table, a magnet carried thereby, means fdr turning said table, means for operating the magnet, aseries of actuating levers, a series of releasing levers alternating with said actuating levers, a common member arranged to be operated by each of said releasing levers, means for locking said common member in its operative position, means carried by said table for releasing said locking means, and means for returning the table to its normal position. 7

CHARLIE L. VANDERBURG. Witnesses: i L. A. STANLEY,

SOLON C. KEMON. 

